Brazil records 1,338 feminicides in 2020; sharp increase in North and Midwest

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil has officially registered the death of 1,338 women in 2020 due to their gender condition, murders committed mostly by partners, ex-partners or
alleged partners, such as the case that last Wednesday, June 2, of nurse student Vitórya Melissa Mota, 22, stabbed to death in the food court of a Niterói (RJ) shopping mall.

Last year’s consolidated data, with 10 of its 12 months in the Covid-19 pandemic, were collected from the secretariats of Public Safety of the 26 states and the Federal District.

Compared to 2019 there was a 2% rise, but violence against women grew at more alarming levels in the Midwest (14%) and the North (37%). Northeast (+3) and Southeast (-3) showed small variations. In the South, there was a 14% decrease.

The figures show that violence against women has been on an upward trajectory -feminicide grew 8% between 2018 and 2019, according to updated data-, despite the tightening of legislation in recent years.

The scenario may actually be more critical, as there is no standardization in the collection, analysis, and reporting of data by some states.

Ceará, governed by Camilo Santana (PT), is one such example. The state does not itemize feminicide in its public crime statistics. The Secretariat of Public Safety said it recorded only 27 cases in 2020, which would place the state with the lowest incidence of this crime in Brazil in relation to the size of its population.

However, the Safety Observatories Network, which comprises academic and civil society organizations from five states, identified 47 cases of feminicide in Ceará in 2020, almost twice as many as the state authorities reported.

A file prepared by the Ceará Women’s Forum and the Articulation of Brazilian Women claims that in 2018 the state recorded only 5.6% of women’s murders as feminicide, data that “contradicts all studies on women’s homicide.”

Ceará’s Secretariat of Public Safety said that the reason it diverges from most other states, which publicly disclose this information, concerns the protection of sensitive personal data. About the discrepancy of registers, it said that the classification of feminicide is up to the Civil Police detective investigating the murder, based on technical criteria.

Of the 13 states that recorded an increase in violence against women in 2020, 12 are in the North, Midwest or Northeast. Only Minas Gerais (up 4%) is not in this group.

Of the states with an historically high number of feminicides, Mato Grosso, governed by Mauro Mendes (DEM), registered a significant increase in 2020, 59%. This is also where, proportionally to its population, more women are killed for their gender condition.

In a statement, the state Department of Public Safety said it believes that social isolation is one of the explanations for the worsening of the situation, in addition to cultural change and the training of police officers to classify these crimes as feminicides. The agency also says that there has been a drop in this type of crime in the first months of 2021.

In terms of preventive and anti-crime actions, the secretariat said it has established a chamber comprising several governmental and civil society organizations, in addition to a State Police team trained to monitor women at risk (the Maria da Penha patrols) and WhatsApp services at specialized women’s defense police stations for denunciations and psychological assistance – in Cuiabá, (65) 99966-0611; in Várzea Grande, (65) 98408-7445, and in Rondonópolis, (66) 99937-5462.

Among the states where there was a reduction in records, the Federal District (-47%), Rio Grande do Norte (-38), and Sergipe (-33%) stand out. In relation to population size, Ceará (with the exception described above) and Rio Grande do Norte showed the lowest rate of women killed per 100,000 inhabitants in 2020.

In early 2020, the then Minister of Justice, Sérgio Moro, signaled that a national system to compile and report statistics on feminicides would be implemented.

Moro was dismissed in April that year. To this day, the government has no such system. In the national program for the disclosure of crime statistics, called SINESP (National Public Security Information System), women killed for their gender condition are included in the overall homicide count.

Through its press advisors, the Ministry said that due to the lack of standardization among states for the typification of feminicide, the portfolio created a project called Digital Portal, which is under development “for the development of a single, uniform and reliable tool for data on violence against women, including feminicides.”

The Ministry also said that a national protocol for the investigation and forensic analysis of feminicide crimes has been forwarded to the states.

Experts advocate a robust and continued approach to gender issues in schools and the improvement of the data collection system, among other points.

They also said there are indications of increased risk to women in the pandemic, in addition to the likely negative impact of policies to relax gun and ammunition control rules promoted by President Jair Bolsonaro.

“There is plenty of evidence and studies in other countries that point to the escalation of violence against women in crisis situations, as it has been in the pandemic,” says Aline Yamamoto, UN Women Brazil’s expert on Preventing and Addressing Violence against Women.

With respect to guns, she says a more categorical analysis is possible. “Having a gun leads to a much higher probability of having a murder victim in the home, which are usually women and children.”

She advocates prevention as a priority measure, in a change of behavior that will only occur through the adequate approach to the causes of violence in schools, through the effective punishment of aggressors and through the education of society and authorities so that events in which the victims are the ones who are ultimately “judged” will not be repeated.

The attempt to turn the victim into the culprit is perhaps the most classic example in Brazil, the case of Ângela Diniz, murdered in 1976 with four shots to the head by her partner, the playboy Doca Street.

The criminal’s defense tried to argue that he should be acquitted for having acted “in legitimate defense of his honor”, since his wife was a “lustful Venus” driven by cocaine, alcohol and “abnormal” relationships with many men.

At the first trial, in 1979, Doca Street was sentenced to a meager 2 years, served on probation. Pressure from feminism activists changed his fate, and in 1981, in a new trial, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, Angela Diniz’s murderer served 3 years in a closed regime, 2 years in a semi-open regime, and 10 years on probation. He died in December 2020, at the age of 86, after suffering a heart attack.

Alice Bianchini, vice president of the National Commission of Female Attorneys of the Brazilian Bar Association, says that equality between men and women is a factor in reducing violence and advocates prioritizing actions aimed at children and adolescents.

“Today the situation is a reflection of this lack of public policies to discuss gender issues within schools,” she says. Bianchini suggests that awareness campaigns involve men, pointing out that one of the points still to be implemented in the Maria da Penha Law (2006) is the creation of education and rehabilitation centers for aggressors.

“The campaigns we have are: women who suffer violence, denounce it. But 62% are afraid to report it because they are afraid the aggressor will retaliate. A statement that I think is important is: if you know a man who is violent towards women, talk to the man’s relatives, they need to know what is going on.”

In her opinion, the increase in gun registration in Brazil, which almost doubled in 2020, is a factor adding to women’s vulnerability.

“There is an international alert regarding Brazil made by the UN, drawing attention to this fact. There are two important issues when weapons are used: one is the lethality rate, which is very high. The second is how much the firearm favors the practice of crime because this type of crime is committed without getting blood on one’s hands. You point the gun and pull the trigger.”

Carolina Ricardo, executive director of the Sou da Paz Institute, says that prevention actions must be increased, such as the expansion of Maria da Penha patrols, the option to register domestic violence online, and campaigns such as those enabling threatened women to ask for help by means of codes (a red X written on the palm of the hand or on a piece of paper).

“It is important to attack violence against women before it becomes feminicide. The more efficient we are in dealing with past attacks, the lower the risk,” says Carolina, who also points to the increased risk due to the incentive to purchase weapons.

For her, it is necessary to connect several areas of public power. “Support structures, financial support, shelters where women can go with their children are also needed. The necessary measures are highly interdisciplinary, it can’t be only the police. It has to involve social assistance, health, education, everyone connected to this agenda.”

Progress in legislation to protect women

2006 – Maria da Penha Law – A landmark in the legislation, it is the basis of the current police, legal, and judicial framework to prevent and punish violence against women;
2009 – Rape legislation hardened – Law began to consider as rape any non-consensual sexual act;
2015 – Feminicide Law – Includes the act as an aggravating factor in the crime of murder;
2018 – Sexual Immaturity Law – Practice of lewd act (masturbation, for example) in the presence of someone, and without the person’s consent;
2021 – Federal Supreme Court declares unconstitutional the use of “legitimate defense of honor” by defendants as a ground for acquittal.

Source: Folha